As a technique concerning production of a carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin tape, there has been known, for example, a technique described in Patent Literature 1. This method uses a nozzle. The nozzle includes a nozzle upper member and a nozzle lower member, the two members defining therebetween a slit with a given gap equal to or smaller than 130 μm. The nozzle further includes urging means for urging the nozzle upper member and the nozzle lower member in the direction of reducing the interval. The method includes a step of passing a carbon fiber strand impregnated with thermoplastic resin through the slit of the nozzle to thereby draw out a thermoplastic-resin-impregnated tape having a tape thickness equal to or smaller than 130 μm from the nozzle.
Paragraph 0026 of the specification of Patent Literature 1 mentions: that accumulation of feather in a downstream-side slit nozzle can raise the surface pressure of a molten resin contact surface; the rise of the surface pressure involves decrease in the pressing force of a pressure cylinder corresponding to the urging means to allow ascent of the nozzle upper member and/or descent of the nozzle lower member, thereby allowing the feather to be drawn out from the downstream-side slit nozzle together with the tape to eliminate the accumulation of the feather; and the suppression of the accumulation of the feather makes it possible to hinder the fibers from being cut.
However, the technique described in Patent Literature 1, that is, the technique for urging the nozzle upper member and the nozzle lower member defining the slit in the directions of reducing the interval therebetween is presented for preventing fibers from being cut during production of the resin-reinforced thermoplastic resin tape, taking no account of circumstances at the start of production. The inventors have found a tendency of fiber cut particularly at the start of production of the fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin tape. Continuing operation while leaving such fiber cut generates possibility that the fiber having cut clogs the nozzle to cause all of the fibers constituting the tape to be cut. This problem occurs in high frequency particularly in the case of producing a fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin tape having high content of fibers and small tape thickness.